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Q&A Are tables of contents mandatory in novels?

I've had several people ask me why my fiction story does not have a table of contents. I never really thought about it, seeing as plenty of fiction stories do not have one either. Is a table of con...

2 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by Jerad Meterko‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T07:01:24Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/30286
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Jerad Meterko‭ · 2019-12-08T07:01:24Z (almost 5 years ago)
I've had several people ask me why my fiction story does not have a table of contents. I never really thought about it, seeing as plenty of fiction stories do not have one either. Is a table of contents mandatory or 'traditional' in fictional writing? Or is this like other writing rules where it can be broken based on different author style?

I am self-publishing, so I do not have an agent or publisher telling me what they want for the book. My last editor did not seem surprised that my story did not have a table of contents either, so I am looking for an official stance on this, or a reputable source detailing what is expected in this type of writing. Are there pro's and con's to each way?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-09-19T17:16:32Z (about 7 years ago)
Original score: 11